I am reviewing a lease for a client interested in leasing tenant space in a net zero building and the lease puts a cap on monthly plug load consumption, rather than a typical W/SF allowance. I have never seen this and am trying to figure out if there's a way to model this. A standard model would take a W/SF and multiply it out hour by hour based on a schedule, but obviously the schedule is a guess and can't handle the nuances of computers turning on and off, accurate weekend predictions etc.
I may be asking for the impossible but didn't know if anyone had seen this or had any thoughts of how to accurately (ish) predict the monthly power consumption of plug loads.
Thanks!
Ben Hollon, P.E., LEED AP, MBA
Lankford | Fendler + associates
Kansas City | St. Joseph | Overland Park
O. 816.221.1411 | www.lankfordfendler.com
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Ben,
For a project that LMN designed (Stone34 in Seattle), the team measured
existing plug loads at the tenant's previous space to inform the expected
use in the new space. I believe this has been done on other projects (such
as the West Berkeley Library) and forms a good baseline for a schedule. The
lease for Stone34 was set up with a cap in part based on the existing
measurements.
-Kjell
Ben,
A simple solution would be to assign diversity schedule and w/sq.ft values
which, in total, add to your kwh limit each month.
To be a bit more rigorous, you might consider:
- Do the plug loads include cooking appliances?
- Maintain the peak values at something realistic for the expected loads
so demand is realistic
- Adjust / shape the diversity schedule so peaks and monthly totals are
maintained.